"squadron, which had become a member of No. 8 (Pathfinder) Group. During January 1944, he flew 38 sorties, completing his second tour of operations with No. 405 Squadron. He was then awarded a Bar to his DSO. After promotion to acting air commodore—a rank precluded from operational flying—he was Mentioned in Dispatches in December 1944. He then voluntarily reverted to group captain so that he might begin a third tour of operations, this time as commanding officer of No. 617 Squadron RAF (the Dambusters squadron), which he led from December until the end of the war. Under his command the"
"was disbanded on 1 April 1920 after being renumbered, becoming No. 60 Squadron. The squadron was reformed on 16 September 1935 at RAF Catfoss, and later became one of the Pathfinder squadrons in April 1943. Commonly known as the Dambusters, No. 617 Squadron was the squadron that took part in Operation Chastise in May 1943, destroying Nazi factories, mines, and hydro-electric power stations. 617 Squadron was based at RAF Scampton, but often made use of RAF Woodhall Spa during exercises and missions. No. 619 Squadron was a Heavy bomber squadron, initially formed at RAF Woodhall Spa on the 18th April"
"originally referred to as ""Squadron X"", was formed at Scampton in order to carry out the proposed raid, codenamed Operation Chastise. More commonly referred to as the ""Dambusters Raid"", the raid would go down as the most famous and widely remembered in the history of the Royal Air Force. On the night of 16–17 May 1943, 617 Sqn despatched 19 Lancasters from Scampton. Led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, the main bulk of the squadron attacked the Sorpe, Eder and Möhne dams with an additional aircraft tasked to perform an attack on the Schwelm Dam. Both the Eder and Möhne"
"VFA-195 (U.S. Navy) Strike Fighter Squadron 195 (VFA-195), also known as the ""Dambusters"", is a United States Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter squadron stationed at Naval Air Facility Atsugi. They are a part of Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) and their tail code is ""NF"".Their radio callsign is ""Chippy"". The squadron, originally known as the ""Tigers"", had its first insignia approved by Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) on 4 March 1944, consisting of a lion cub riding a torpedo. Bob Burns gave the squadron a lion cub. On the patch the cub is holding the musical ""bazooka"" that Burns used"
"project was further cut back from five drifts to three, even though work had begun on some of the other drifts. The site was finally put out of commission on 6 July 1944, when bombers of RAF Bomber Command's 617 Squadron (the famous ""Dambusters"") attacked using ""Tallboy"" deep-penetration bombs. The project eventually came under the control of the SS, and SS General Hans Kammler ordered it to be ready for action in late 1944, assisted by Walter Dornberger. A battery was constructed of two shorter V-3 guns approximately long with 12 side-chambers, and it was placed in the hands of"
"effective squadrons of Bomber Command, personified by No 617 Squadron the ""Dambusters"", formed from 5 Group aircrew in March 1943. Most of the group's main airfields were around Lincoln, including RAF Scampton. By the end of the war the group had grown to 15 squadrons. The group was noted for its high accuracy bombing, being involved the sinking of the ""Tirpitz"" in November 1944 and the shattering of the strategic Bielefeld railway viaduct in March 1945. The Group introduced new weapons operationally, including Barnes Wallis's ""bouncing"" and his Tallboy and Grand Slam ""earthquake"" bombs. The group was disbanded on 15"
"version of the bouncing bomb, was used to destroy the Mohne and Eder dams by Lancasters from the specially recruited and trained 617 Squadron, often known as the Dambusters, under Wing Commander Guy Gibson. In March and April 1945, as the war in Europe was ending, Lancasters dropped Grand Slams and Tallboys on U-boat pens and railway viaducts across north Germany. At Bielefeld more than of railway viaduct was destroyed by Grand Slams creating an earthquake effect, which shook the foundations. The Boeing B-29 Superfortress was a development of the Fortress, but a larger design with four Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone"
"War exploits of the squadron and ""Chastise"" in particular, were described in Guy Gibson's own 1944 account ""Enemy Coast Ahead"", as well as Paul Brickhill's 1951 book ""The Dam Busters"" and a 1955 film, though the accuracy and completeness of these accounts were compromised by many of the documents relating to the war years still being secured by the Official Secrets Act. The definitive work however is considered ""The Dambusters Raid"" by John Sweetman. It is based on careful research and cross checking of original documents as well as interviews with survivors of the raid. In 2006, it was announced"
"The Dam Busters (book) The Dam Busters is a non-fiction book by Paul Brickhill about Royal Air Force Squadron 617 Originally commanded by Wing Commander Guy Gibson V.C. during World War II. The squadron became known as the ""Dam Busters"" because of Operation Chastise, a mission using highly specialised bombs to destroy Ruhr dams in Germany. The book also covers the subsequent history of 617 Squadron, as an elite squadron specializing in attacking difficult targets with outsize weapons and precision techniques. Among Gibson's successors as commander was Group Captain Leonard Cheshire V.C., and the book describes Cheshire's unorthodox leadership style"
"Leader David Maltby, were transferred to 617 Squadron to be part of the secretive Dambusters raid forming at RAF Scampton. The squadron was created to attack the dams of the Ruhr in an effort to wreck the industrial capacity of Germany. It was initially called Squadron ""X"", as the speed of its formation outstripped the RAF process for naming squadrons. Twenty-one bomber crews were selected from existing squadrons in 5 Group. These crews included RAF personnel of several different nationalities, as well as members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand"
"of Dambuster David Maltby and His Crew"" written by Charles Foster. David Maltby Squadron Leader David John Hatfeild Maltby RAF (10 May 1920 – 15 September 1943) was a British Royal Air Force pilot, service No. 60335, best known for his part in the Dambusters raid. He had successfully completed over 30 operations before his death in September 1943. Born on 10 May 1920 in Baldslow, outside Hastings, Sussex. His father was a headmaster at Hydneye house school which Maltby attended for a while until he left and joined Marlborough College between 1934 and 1936. In 1938 he began training"
"Operation Chastise, better known as the Dambusters raid, was an attempt to damage German industrial production by crippling its hydro-electric power and transport in the Ruhr area. Operation Hydra of August 1943 sought to destroy German work on long-range rockets but only delayed it by a few months. Subsequent efforts were directed against V-weapon launch sites in France. In mid 1942, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) arrived in the UK and carried out a few raids across the English Channel. The USAAF Eighth Air Force's B-17 bombers were called the ""Flying Fortresses"" because of their heavy defensive armament"
"bomb sight was introduced. By the time the SABS was available, the Mark XIV was in widespread use and proving good enough that there was no pressing need to replace it. The SABS briefly saw use with the Pathfinder Force before being turned over to No. 617 Squadron RAF, the famed ""Dambusters"", starting in November 1943. This squadron's Avro Lancasters were undergoing conversion to dropping the Tallboy bomb as a precision weapon, and required the higher accuracy of the SABS for this mission. In this role the SABS demonstrated superb accuracy, routinely placing bombs within of their targets when dropped"
"in his act, while riding a torpedo. The lion went to the Los Angeles Zoo. A new design replaced the cub with a tiger and parrot on the torpedo, and was approved on 18 April 1949. Sometime in the 1950s, the squadron adopted a shield insignia that featured an eagle's head and a torpedo. On 1 May 1951, squadron aircraft disabled the heavily defended Hwacheon Dam in North Korea, earning them the nickname ""Dambusters"", echoing the original Dam Busters of No. 617 Squadron RAF. Destruction of the dam had been previously attempted by other units many times. In August 1985,"
"be dropped from an optimal altitude of at a forward speed of , hitting at . It made a crater deep and across and could go through of concrete. The weight of the Tallboy (approximately ) and the high altitude required of the bombing aircraft meant that the Avro Lancasters used had to be specially adapted. Armour plating and even defensive armament were removed to reduce weight, and the bomb-bay doors had to be adapted. At the same time, No. 617 ""Dambusters"" Squadron were trained in the use of a special bombsight, the Stabilizing Automatic Bomb Sight (SABS). For accuracy,"
"the Dambusters raid was marked by a flypast of the last operational Lancaster over the cliffs at Reculver, site of secret tests of inventor Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb. (This flight was part of a larger series of flypasts over key locations by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.) On 16 May 2008, Les Munro, the last surviving Squadron Leader, and Richard Todd, star of the celebrated film ""The Dambusters"", attended the 65th Anniversary service and flypast over Ladybower Reservoir. At 100 feet, as compared to 60 feet of the Dambusters' practice runs, a single Lancaster aircraft passed three times over"
"Africa. It remained at Bathurst until 30 June 1945, when it disbanded. The squadron lost 19 Sunderlands during the Second World War. No Axis submarines were sunk by the squadron, although it did claim at least one German Junkers Ju 88 shot down. On 1 August 1947 the squadron was reformed at RAF Station Kabrit, Egypt as a transport squadron and flew Douglas Dakotas, until these were replaced by Vickers Valettas in July 1949. On 20 February 1953, the squadron was disbanded by being renumbered to No. 84 Squadron RAF. The squadron was reformed once more on 1 January 1954"
"Dave Shannon David John Shannon, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar (27 May 1922 – 8 April 1993) was an Australian bomber pilot of World War II, known for his part in the ""Dambusters"" raid on the night of 16/17 May 1943. Born in South Australia, Shannon joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1941 and learned to fly under the Empire Air Training Scheme. After further training in the United Kingdom he was posted to No. 106 Squadron RAF, operating Avro Lancaster heavy bombers, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in January 1943. In March he"
"Division, travelling to engage the newly landed allied forces in Normandy. The panzers were expected to use the railway to cross the Loire. No. 83 Squadron RAF illuminated the area with flares by four Avro Lancasters and marked the target at low level by three de Havilland Mosquitos. 25 Lancasters of No. 617 Squadron RAF, the ""Dambusters"" then dropped their Tallboys from 18,000 ft with great accuracy. They hit the approaches to the bridge, blocked the railway cutting and one pierced the roof of the tunnel, bringing down a huge quantity of rock and soil which blocked the tunnel, badly"
"Polish cruiser ORP ""Dragon"" damaged and scuttled off Sword Beach. RAF Bomber Command attacked Le Havre in the evening 14 June, twenty-two 617 Squadron Lancaster bombers and Mosquito target markers going first, to drop Tallboy bombs on the E-boat (""Schnellboot, S-Boot"" [fast boat]) pens and one Tallboy penetrated the roof, which did much to eliminate the E-boat threat. The Dambusters were followed by 228 more Lancasters and three hours later a second wave of 116 aircraft arrived, of bombs hitting the port and anti-aircraft gun positions. The operation was the largest day raid by Bomber Command since the war began."
"over the Channel. The three surviving aircraft were rescued only when the fight was joined by Hurricanes from No. 111 Squadron. The remainder of the unit returned north to RAF Prestwick on 25 July due to the ineffectiveness of the Defiant against single-seat fighters. No. 29 Squadron flying Bristol Beaufighters arrived for its first tour of duty on 27 April 1941. One of the Squadron's pilots, Guy Gibson VC, later officer commanding 617 Squadron on the Dambusters Raid, said of the station ""Of all the airfields in Great Britain ... we have the most pleasant"". A regular and long-standing inhabitant,"
"1 March 1942. As one of the earliest squadrons to be equipped they were heavily involved with the early operations with this aircraft, including the low level mission to bomb the MAN diesel engine factory in Augsburg on 17 April 1942. New Zealander Les Munro (as of 2013 the last surviving pilot who flew on 617 Squadron's Dambuster raid), served with 97 Squadron at Woodhall Spa before being posted to Scampton to join 617 in early 1943. He came back to Woodhall Spa in January 1944 when 617 moved there for the rest of the war. 97 Squadron moved to"
"VS-35 Sea Control Squadron 35 (VS-35), known as the ""Boomerangers"" was an anti-submarine/surface squadron of the United States Navy. Established on 3 January 1961, at Naval Air Station Los Alamitos, California, it was disestablished on 30 June 1973. On establishment the squadron was equipped with eleven S2F-1 Tracker aircraft. In July 1961, the squadron transition to the S2F-3, which would later be designated the S-2D. In 1962, the squadron was relocated to NAS North Island, California, and deployed for the first time as part of Carrier Anti-Submarine Air Group Fifty-Seven (CVSG-57) on board the and again in 1963. From August"
"defensive guns of the Hampden, crews would now be fending off attacks with the 8 guns of the Lancaster. On 17 April 1942 eight Lancasters in each squadron were prepared for the mission. Their petrol tanks were filled to their maximum capacity of 2,154 gallons, and the aircraft were armed with four 1,000 pound bombs. The crews were summoned to the briefing room, airfield security required them to present proof of their identities, and they were brought in to learn the details of the mission they had been training for. As the drape was pulled back from the operations map"
"destroyers and which carried out a sustained series of depth charge attacks, which drove the submarine to the surface where it was bombed by a Ventura of 500 Squadron and shelled by the two destroyers before being sunk by ""Niblack"". The squadron disbanded on 11 July 1944, handing over its Venturas to No. 27 Squadron SAAF. The Squadron was reformed on 1 August 1944 at La Sénia as a bomber squadron, employing many of the personnel of the squadron's previous incarnation. It operated Martin Baltimore light bombers as part of the Desert Air Force, flying from bases in Italy by"
"the defence of the south west of England including the ports of Plymouth and Falmouth, the squadron's first action came on 25 September 1940, when a force of 24 Dornier Do 17s escorted by 12 Messerschmitt Bf 110s flew over the English Channel from France and crossed the coast at Start Point, heading towards Plymouth. Four of the squadron's Gladiators attempted an attack, but the formation was eventually broken up by Hurricanes from Exeter. Two Dorniers managed to reach the target, and bombs fell into the harbour. Too fast for the Gladiators to get into position, the raiders made their"
"and replacement by the F-35, the RAF Lossiemouth-based 15 (Reserve) Squadron (the Tornado Operational Conversion Unit) was disbanded in March 2017. Lightning: On 23 November 2015 it was announced that a total of 138 F-35Bs will be ordered. 617 (The Dambusters) Squadron officially reformed on 18 April 2018 as an RAF Lightning Squadron. The first four aircraft arrived at RAF Marham on 7 June 2018. The Sentry AEW1, based at RAF Waddington, provides airborne early warning to detect incoming enemy aircraft and to co-ordinate the aerial battlefield. The Sentinel R1 (formally known as ASTOR – Airborne STand-Off Radar) provides a"
"John Emilius Fauquier Air Commodore John Emilius ""Johnny"" Fauquier, (March 19, 1909 – April 3, 1981) was a Canadian aviator and Second World War Bomber Command leader. He commanded No. 405 Squadron RCAF and later No. 617 Squadron RAF (the Dambusters) over the course of the war. A bush pilot, prior to the war, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force as a flight instructor in 1939. He then joined 405 Squadron in 1941 and would fly operationally for the rest of the war, taking a drop in rank on one occasion to return to active command. During his three"
"June 1943, the original ""Phantom"" was transferred to 101 Squadron in November that year and finished the war as part of 550 Squadron at Ludford Magna. The Lancaster currently carries the markings of 'Thumper' for the 2014 display season, an aircraft which served with No 617 Squadron after the Dams Raid. Some of the specially-modified Lancasters, which survived the Dams Raid, remained in service with the squadron afterwards. However, these aircraft were not suitable for all operations and they were replaced with standard Lancasters, one example being B Mk1 DV385. PA474 displays the markings of bombs for operations over Germany,"
"VMFA-333 Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 333 (VMFA-333) was a United States Marine Corps fighter squadron consisting of F/A-18 Hornets. Known as the ""Fighting Shamrocks"" and “Trip Trey”, the squadron participated in action during World War II, the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm The squadron’s aircraft were easily recognizable by the row of three shamrocks painted on the vertical stabilizers of their aircraft. They were decommissioned on 31 March 1992. Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 333 (VMSB-333) was activated 1 August 1943 as at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina. In April 1944, a portion of the squadron was"
"and finally Avro Lancasters, they completed their tour in October 1942, Martin being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). Martin's penchant for low flying contributed to his selection in March 1943 for assignment to the newly formed No. 617 Squadron under Wing Commander Guy Gibson. Martin took part in the ""Dambusters"" raid on the night of 16/17 May 1943. He piloted the Lancaster bomber AJ-P ""Popsie"" (officially known as AJ-P ""Peter"") in the first formation, which was assigned to attack the Möhne Dam in Western Germany. Martin's plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire during the attack, but he successfully accomplished"
"VMFA-235 Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 235 (VMFA-235) was a United States Marine Corps squadron that most recently flew F/A-18 Hornets. Known as the ""Death Angels"", the squadron participated in action during World War II, the Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm and was decommissioned on June 14, 1996. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron was commissioned on January 1, 1943 at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, California as Fixed Wing Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 235 (VMSB-235). During World War II they flew the SBD Dauntless and participated in Operation Cartwheel, the Battle of Bougainville and operations in and around Rabaul. The squadron"
"Different, inert versions of the bomb were tested at Reculver, leading to the development of the operational version known as ""Upkeep"". This bomb was used by the RAF's 617 Squadron in Operation Chastise, otherwise known as the Dambuster raids, in which dams in the Ruhr district of Germany were attacked on the night of 16–17 May 1943 by formations of Lancaster bombers. On 17 May 2003 a Lancaster bomber overflew the Reculver testing site to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the exploit. Two prototype bouncing bombs, about long and wide, lay in marshland behind the sea wall until about 1977,"